Many electrical components generate heat as a byproduct when they dissipate electrical energy. Overheating often affects the performance and reliability of electronic components, and thus, electrical devices are routinely cooled to prevent overheating.
In many power electronics applications, heat sinks are used where efficient heat dissipation is desired. Heat sinks absorb and dissipate heat from electrical components by thermal contact. For example, a heat sink may be soldered or mounted to a power electronic substrate to cool the substrate. In higher power applications, the heat sink is often increased in size in order to improve its thermal capacity. Increasing the size of the heat sink results in increased cost, weight, and volume of the respective power electronics module. The increased weight and volume of the power electronics module is undesirable from a packaging perspective. For example, in automotive applications, packaging space under the hood is limited and increasing the weight of the vehicle is undesirable.
Alternative cooling methods may be employed to cool the power electronics substrate. However, as compared to heat sinks, these alternative cooling methods become less effective as the surface area of the power electronics substrate increases.